LOOKS BACK AT THE FORMATIVE YEARS OF THE YELLOWBATTER ESTATE, AND, GIVEN A YEAR OR TWO, CELEBRATING 70 YEARS.

THAT a man objected to going to live at Ye l l o w b a tt e r because he did not like the name, which reminded him of an assault, was stated at a meeting of Drogheda Corporation in January 1952. Ald. P. Martin said he had assured the man that they had changed the name to the Gaelic which was much more soft- sounding.

The matter arose in regard to the proposed then new tenhouse scheme at Marsh Road, when A’d. Martin said that the people living in the old houses were disinclined to go down to live in Yellowbatter and then return to the Marsh Road when the new houses were built there.

It would mean unnecessary trouble and expense for them. The alternative was that they be left alone and he believed that this could be done and the new houses built at the same time with little inconvenience to the contractor. He thought their objection was well-founded as “they had set their roots deeply in the valley of the Marshes.”

The Mayor (Ald. L. J. Walsh, T.D.) told Ald. Martin that he had left the matter rather late and that the Council had previously reached an unanimous decision on It. It was now a condition of contract that the houses would be removed and the site cleared for the contractor.

The following month, February 1952, a meeting was organised jointly by the Bothar Brugha Tenants’ Protection Association and the Yellowbatter T.P.A.

The two Associations intended to develop the whole area of Yellowbatter and Hardman’s Garden, Drogheda, and given funds and voluntary help, would build a swimming pool and Clubhouses for the youngsters.

Mr. T. McEntaggart, a committee member of the Bothar Brugha Association, who acted as Chairman, said that both committees were non-political and they intended to go on fighting no matter what Government was in power.

Mr. W. Martin (Bothar Brugha Chairman) said that the. two Associations had now joined forces and intended to carry on the fight for a reduction in rents. They had asked tho Corporation at numerous times to got different things done for the houses. They wanted dividing walls and unless they got these they would have no privacy and would not bo able to keep tho fronts of the houses clean. They gave tho Corporation credit for going so far to solve the housing problem as to provide tho Bothar Brugha and Yellowbattor schemes which were on a par with tho best in Ireland.

Mr. Martin added that the Associations intended to develop the area as best they could and given funds and voluntary help they would build a swimming pool and clubhouses to keep the youngsters off tho streets. They wanted everybody, young and old, to take part in tho enterprise and make it a success. Their principal objectives were a reduction in rents and valuations; a rebate on the rates they paid during the first year of occupation; walls or palings, without an increase in the rates because of them; the provision of dust-bins, and to make sure that no tenant was evicted through not being able to pay rent because of illness or unemployment.

Mr. Terry Corcoran (Chairman of the Yellowbatter Association) said that some people might think because of the small attendance at the meeting that thoy were not properly organised but such was not the case. Because preference was given to people with families looking for houses it was mostly young married couples with children who lived in Bothar Brugha and Yellowbatter and consequently there was only one wageearner in each family. “Now, because of extensive unemployment, it was often the case that this one person could not get work. The idea of the family being the basic unit of tho Christian State was a good one and they had a right to bring up their children in decent comfort. Surely that was not too much to ask from anyone.’

Many of the people who got houses, Mr. Corcoran continued, had previously been living in rooms and, therefore, had the additional expenso of providing furniture for an entire house. With prices soaring at the present time it was a hard fight as they all knew.

‘’Our forefathers stood up to the eviction squads and we are as good